Resilient small animal harness

ABSTRACT

A small animal harness comprising an elastically deformable chest piece that attaches at its upper portion to a pair of flexible shoulder straps and attaches at its lower portion to a pair of flexible brisket straps, the unattached ends of the shoulder and brisket straps being interconnected over the withers of the animal so that the brisket straps are slidable in the connection and adapted to be connected to a leash for control of the animal.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to harness apparatus for smallanimals, including canines and cats.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The prior art has seen a large number of innovative designs for petharnesses and restraints. All of the designs attempt to provide comfortfor the animal consistent with adequate control. Many of the designsutilize a chest pad or chest strap in combination with shoulder strapsand girths that converge over the withers to form a connection point fora leash or other type of securing device.

Typical of patents disclosing such apparatus are the following: U.S.Pat. No. 5,915,335 for Dog Car Restraint, issued Jun. 29, 1999;

U.S. Pat. No. 6,101,979 for Adjustable Safety Pet Harness issued Aug.15, 2000; and

U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,923 for Pet Harness With Quick Connect Stand-UpLeash.

The apparatus disclosed by these patents, as well as other known priorart, are constructed from flexible but non-elastic straps and pads that,even though adjusted to fit a particular animal, inherently imposeelements of discomfort and undue restriction during certain movements oranimated motion of the animal.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention toprovide a harness for small animals that will accomplish the traditionalcontrol objectives while at the same time providing the resiliencenecessary to eliminate body pressure points and relieve needlessrestriction of movement when the animal is active.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The focus of the present invention in a small animal harness is theprovision of an elastically deformable chest pad that is interconnectedto one end of each of a pair of shoulder straps and to one end of eachof a pair of brisket straps. The other ends of the shoulder and brisketstraps converge over the animal's withers to form an attachment pointfor a leash or similar restraint. Longitudinal and diagonal elasticityof the chest pad allows the pad to distort during walking, running orother activity of the animal. Being capable of significant distortionfrom forces imposed on the connecting straps, the chest pad allowsvirtual expansion and contraction of the shoulder and brisket straps toaccommodate the changing anatomical features of the animal duringvigorous activity. Such continual self adjustment avoids undesirablestrap pressure on body elements and precludes the restriction ofmovement that is inherent in traditional harnesses.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dog wearing the harness of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the harness especially illustrating theinterior band construction of the harness' elastic chest pad and showingthe shoulder and brisket straps.

FIG. 3 is similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating the exterior mesh jacketthat encompasses the interior bands that comprise the interior of thechest pad.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the withers leash attachment plate thatinterconnects the distal ends of the shoulder and brisket straps.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of the bands comprising the chest padshowing in dotted lines the distorted form of the device in a firstdiagonal/longitudinal direction.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of the bands comprising the chest padshowing in dotted lines the distorted form of the device in a seconddiagonal/longitudinal direction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring first to FIG. 1, an exemplary dog 2 is shown wearing theelastic harness 4 of the present invention. The harness includes adeformable elastic chest piece, or pad, 5 that is adapted to bepositioned over the chest of the dog 2. A pair of shoulder straps 6 and8 is disposed over the respective shoulders of the dog with their distalends 7 and 9 connected to a withers plate 10 (See FIGS. 2, 3 and 4). Theproximal ends of the shoulder straps are respectively sewn to laterallyspaced-apart attachment points 12 and 15 disposed on the upper cornersof the chest pad 5.

Connected to laterally spaced-apart connecting points 19 and 21 on thelower corners of the chest pad 5 are the respective proximal ends 23 and25 of a pair of brisket straps 27 and 29. The brisket straps are adaptedto be positioned in the respective crotches of the forelimbs of the dogand preferably are equipped with sherpa sleeves or other suitablepadding. The distal portions of each of the briskets straps are runthrough an aperture 60 in the withers plate 10 and together form aconnecting point 31 for a leash 30 or other restraint. The slidingmovement of the brisket straps 27 and 29 within the aperture 60 providesa means for the handler to pull tension on the leash and therebyvirtually shorten the brisket straps within the harness to bringpressure to bear on the crotches of the dog's forelegs in order toassert control.

As the dog moves in a walking gait one shoulder will be somewhatadvanced over the other shoulder. Such displacement will be even morepronounced when the dog is running or performing other vigorousexercise. Traditional harnesses do not easily accommodate suchdistortion of the body, resulting in increased pressure on a shoulder,leg or chest portion or even restriction of movement.

The prevention of such increase in pressure and restriction of movementis accomplished with the use of the substantially deformable chest pad 5in the harness of the present invention. Elasticity of the pad isachieved by the elastic bands shown in FIG. 2. While a number ofdifferent pad configurations are possible, the one shown in FIG. 2 ispreferred. In this arrangement the pad comprises a longitudinally spacedapart pair of laterally extending non-elastic straps 32 and 34. The endportions of the upper lateral strap 32 comprise the attachment points 12and 15 for the proximal ends of the shoulder straps 6 and 8respectively.

The end portions of the lower lateral strap 34 comprise the attachmentpoints 19 and 21 for the proximal ends of the brisket straps 27 and 29respectively. To provide longitudinal and diagonal elasticity to thechest pad 5 the lateral non-elastic straps 32 and 34 are interconnectedby a pair of laterally spaced-apart longitudinally extending elasticbands 40 and 42. To stabilize the normally rectangular shape of thechest pad, a second pair of elastic bands 44 and 46 is disposed acrossthe chest pad with each of the bands disposed diagonally across thechest pad area, their respective ends being anchored at the attachmentpoints 15 and 17 and 19 and 21. The criss-crossed bands 44 and 46 allowfor and stabilize diagonal distortion of the chest pad in response tocross pulling tension by one shoulder and the opposite leg.

To complete the preferred form of the chest pad 5 a porous andlongitudinally elastic mesh jacket 50 surrounds the front and back ofthe rectangle formed by the non-elastic laterals 32 and 34 and theelastic side bands 40 and 42.

While the preferred form of elastic chest pad is shown and described, itis apparent that other forms of the elastic pad may be conceived inorder to accomplish the objective of the invention to provide anelastically deformable and flexible central pad member that will reducepressure points and will not impede free motion.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flat plate 10 that is one form of mechanism foruniting the brisket straps and shoulder straps at a common point overthe withers of the dog. The distal ends of the shoulder straps aretrained through spaced-apart slots 55 and 56 in the withers plate 10 andare then fold back and secured with length adjustment buckles 57 and 58.An aperture 60 in the withers plate 10 receives the distal end portionsof the brisket straps 27 and 29 to provide sliding movement of thoseends within the plate 10.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate the available longitudinal and diagonaldistortion of the chest pad 5 in order to accomplish the objects of theinvention.

1. A small animal harness comprising, an elastically deformable animalchest piece having two laterally spaced apart upper attachment pointsand two laterally spaced apart lower attachment points, a pair ofshoulder straps having proximal and distal ends where the proximal endsare respectively attached to the upper attachment points of the chestpiece, a pair of brisket straps having proximal and distal ends wherethe proximal ends are respectively attached to the lower attachmentpoints of the chest piece, means adapted to be positioned over theanimal's withers for forming a junction of the distal ends of theshoulder straps and the brisket straps.
 2. The harness of claim 1 wherethe chest piece comprises, longitudinally spaced apart upper and lowerlaterally extending edge forming means respectively carrying the upperand lower attachment points, and means for elastically interconnectingthe upper and lower laterally extending edge forming means.
 3. Theharness of claim 2 where the means for elastically interconnectingcomprises, a first pair of spaced apart elongated elastic bandsinterconnecting the upper and lower laterally extending edge formingmeans, a second pair of elongated elastic bands interconnecting theupper and lower laterally extending edge forming means and disposed inan X configuration.
 4. The harness of claim 3 where the means forelastically interconnecting further comprises, a porous elastic jacketsurrounding the first and second pairs of elastic bands.
 5. The harnessof claim 1 where the means for forming a junction of the distal ends ofthe shoulder straps and the brisket straps comprises a slidableconnection for the distal ends of the brisket straps.
 6. The harness ofclaim 5 where the distal ends of the brisket straps are joined togetherto form a connection point for a leash.
 7. A small animal harnesscomprising, an elastically deformable animal chest piece having twolaterally spaced apart upper corners and two laterally spaced apartlower corners, a pair of shoulder straps having proximal and distal endswhere the proximal ends are respectively attached to the upper cornersof the chest piece and the distal ends are interconnected, a pair ofbrisket straps having proximal and distal ends where the proximal endsare respectively attached to the lower corners of the chest piece, meansadapted to be positioned over the animal's withers for interconnectingthe distal ends of the shoulder straps, said means having an aperturethrough which the distal ends of the brisket straps are trained forslidable movement therethrough.
 8. The harness of claim 7 where thechest piece comprises, spaced apart non-elastic members defining theupper and lower perimeters of the chest piece, at least one elasticmember interconnecting the non-elastic members.
 9. The harness of claim7 where the chest piece comprises, spaced apart non-elastic membersdefining upper and lower perimeters of the chest piece and beingintegral with the respective upper and lower corners of the chest piece,a first pair of spaced apart and mutually parallel elastic bandsinterconnecting the non-elastic members.
 10. The harness of claim 9 andfurther including, a second pair of elastic bands interconnecting thenon-elastic members in a diagonal configuration from the upper and lowercorners of the chest piece.
 11. A small animal harness comprising, apair of shoulder straps having distal and proximal ends, a pair ofbrisket straps having distal and proximal ends, a longitudinally anddiagonally elastically deformable chest pad, means connecting theproximal ends of the pair of shoulder straps to the chest pad, meansconnecting the proximal ends of the pair of brisket straps to the chestpad, and uniting means disposed over the withers of the animal forming ajunction of the distal ends of the shoulder and brisket straps.
 12. Asmall animal harness comprising, an elastically deformable chest piece,uniting means adapted to be positioned over the withers of the animal, apair of flexible straps having proximal and distal ends, the proximalends of which are attached to the chest piece at its upper portion, thedistal ends of which are connected to the uniting means, a pair offlexible brisket straps having proximal and distal ends, the proximalends of which are attached to the chest piece at its lower portion, thedistal ends of which are slidably constrained by the uniting means.